Apparatus for gapping slide fasteners



Jan. 8, 1957 I 1. M. NElTLlCH APPARATUS FOR GAPPING SLIDE FASTENERS sShees-$heet 1 Filed Nov. 15, 1954 INVENTOR IRVING M. NEITLICH B M [.EdiM

HIS

ATTO R N EYS Jan. 8, 1957 1. M. NEITLICH APPARATUS FOR GAPPING SLIDEFASTENERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 15,- 1954 FIGS.

v INVENTOR IRVING M. NElTLICH @w mmw 0% HIS ATTORNEYS Jan. 8, 1957 I. M.NElTLlCH APPARATUS FOR GAPPING SLIDE FASTENERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledNov. 15, 1954 INVENTOR IRVING M. NEITLICH H IS ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent APPARATUS FOR GAPPING SLIDE FASTENERS Irving M. Neitlich,Stamford, Conn., assignor to Cue Fastener Corporation, Stamford, Conn.,a corporation of New York Application November 15, 1954, Serial No.468,981

12 Claims. (Cl. 29-33.)

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for making slidefasteners and it relates particularly to apparatus for making coil-typeslide fasteners of predetermined lengths.

It has been customary, heretofore, in manufacturing coil-type slidefasteners to form the coils of the fastener in long lengths and attachthem to long strips of tape or fabric, either as a part of a continuouscoil-forming and tape weaving operation or by forming the coilsseparately and sewing them on the tapes with a sewing machine. After thestrips of tape and the fastener coils are joined, they are cut intopieces of lengths suitable for the fasteners to be manufactured and thecoils are then cut to enable end sections of the coils. to. be removedthereby to form coils of a desired length.

Cutting and removing the sections of the coils has been a manualoperation, heretofore, and for this reason it has imposed greatlimitations on the rate of production of the coil-type fasteners.Moreover, unless the operator is highly skilled, the coils are notusually of exactly the same length so that they cannot be matchedaccurately as to length and may require additional trimming and fittingin order to produce satisfactory fasteners.

in order to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the priorpractice, the present invention provides apparatus whereby the fastenerscan be processed in such a manner that coil sections can be cutaccurately to a desired length and portions thereof removed either priorto or subsequent to cutting of the fasteners thereby enabling accurateand rapid production of the fastener elements.

More particularly, apparatus is provided whereby the coils can bepunched or cut at spaced apart intervals along the length of a tape orother material to which the coils are secured, so as to free sections ofthe coil from other portions of the coil and enable their removal toleave gaps in the fastener.

The apparatus may be controlled manually or automatically and in eithercase can be operated more rapidly and with greater accuracy than themanual operations heretofore practiced.

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may behad to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figs. 1 to 4 are schematic views in perspective of typical apparatus forcutting and removing coil sections from a slide fastener stringer;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a portion of the coil-cutting mechanism of theapparatus;

Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation of a typical apparatus including thecoil-cutting and removing elements illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 of thedrawing;

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are schematic views in perspective of apparatus of amodified type illustrating the cutting and removal of coil sectionsthereby;

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a modified type of apparatus forcutting and removing coil sections from slide fasteners with the coilsthereof in meshed relation;

Patented Jan. 8, 1957 Fig. 11 is a perspective view of still anothertype of apparatus for punching coil fasteners and separating thefasteners. to enable the detached sections to be removed from thefasteners; and

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of an apparatus for removing the detachedsections from the slide fastener assembly.

The apparatus to be described hereinafter is particularly adapted forremoval of sections of the coils of slide fasteners of the typedisclosed generally in the Wahl U. S; Patent No. 2,300,442, datedNovember 3,. 1942. As disclosed in this patent, the coils making up theinterlocking elements of the fastener may be formed continuously and maybe secured to a tape or'other piece of fabric by weaving the coil in theedge of the tape or by sewing the tape and the coil together. The coilsare generally of helical formation including interconnected andgenerally oval or flattened loops formed of a filament of generallyoblong cross-section. The combined tape and coil are cut into lengthsand gapped to formv the stringers of the fasteners. As indicated above,gapping (cutting and removal of end sections of the coil from eachstringer .element) and separation of the tape into stringer elements ofpredetermined length has been accomplished manually heretofore.

The present invention provides several apparatuses for removing sectionsof the slide fastener either before or after the long strips are cutinto fasteners of a desired length. The form of the inventionillustrated in Figs. 1 to 6 is useful particularly for removing sectionsof the coil including a plurality of loops to form gaps in the coil of asingle stringer. As illustrated schematically in Figs. 1 to 4, theapparatus may include a pair of relatively movable jaws 10 and 10a forgripping and retaining the tape T of the slide fastener which may beprovided with bead cords C, C and a fastening coil 11 formed of plastic,such as nylon or the like of the type described above. The coil 11 andthe tape extend beyond the opposite ends of the jaws 10 and 10a.

A needle 12, of hook-like shape, is mounted for movement toward and awayfrom the coil and is formed with a resilient shank so that when it isbrought into engagement with the coil it' can deflect and engage throughone of the loops of the coil 11. A knife blade 13 is also included inthe apparatus, the blade having a pair of narrow, spaced apart cuttingedges 14 and 15 at its opposite ends and a notch 16 between them havinga dull edge.

The edges 14 and 15 cooperate with upstanding lugs 17 and 17a atopposite ends of the jaw 10a to cut through one or both sides of one ormore loops of the portion of coil that is disposed between them. Bycutting the loops in spaced relation along the coil 11, the section 11aof the coil between the cut loops is released and can be pulled out ofthe thread or yarn loops by means of which the coil is attached to thetape T. The action of withdrawing the severed or disengaged section 11aof the coil from the tape T is illustrated in Fig. 4. The flexibility ofthe coil enables it to unwind and slide through the thread loops andthereby be withdrawn without disarranging the sections of the coil itbeyond the ends of the section 11a and without tearing or damaging thetape T.

The apparatus described generally may be fully automatic in operationand may be motor driven. However, for smaller scale production, it ispossible to arrange the device for manual operation if desired. Thus, asshown in Fig. 6, a typical manually operated apparatus may include theclamping jaws 10, 10a which are pivotally connected by a pivot member 18near their lower ends, the jaw 10 being supported in fixed position bymeans of a backing flange 19 mounted on a supporting table 20 for theapparatus. The jaw 10 has a link or rod 21 extending from it through anaperture in the jaw 10a. The

link 21 carries a cam member 22 having a handle 23 thereon by means ofwhich the cam can be rotated to squeeze the jaws 10, a together andthereby grip the tape T between them.

A member 24 for supporting the hook 12 is biased on the upper end of arod 25 sliding in a sleeve bearing 26 in the table and connected at itslower end by means of a pivoted link 27 to a foot pedal 28. The footpedal 28 may be pivotally mounted on the back leg of the table 24 Aspring 29 connected between the underside of the table and the footpedal 28 normally urges the member 24 and the hook 12. in an upwarddirection.

A cam member 30 is mounted on the rod 25 for engagement with the rearedge of the blade 13 which is slidably mounted in slots in a support 31mounted on the table 25). The blade 13 also may be biased away from thejaws 10, it/Pa by means of a spring (not shown) or in any other suitableway.

in operation, the tape T is placed between the open jaws 10, Na and thecam 22 is rotated to grip the tape T. When the foot pedal 28 isdepressed, the hook 12 moves down in contact with the coil 11 and thecam member 3i advances the blade 13 to cut the coil at two spacedpoints. Upon the release of the foot pedal 23, the spring 29 urges thehook 112 upwardly carrying with it the severed section 11a of the coil.The cam 22 then is released and the tape is moved manually and againclamped for another gapping operation.

A similar type of device is illustrated in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, this devicebeing used, however, to remove one loop at a time from the coil therebyenabling as few or as many loops to be removed as may be desired toprovide necessary gap in the fastener. The apparatus shown in Figs. 7, 8and 9 also includes a hook 35 which is reciprocated up and down toengage and lift individual loops 36 of a coil 3'7 secured to a tape 38.In this form of apparatus, the knife blade 39 is advanced after the bookhas moved upwardly a short distance to cut the portion of the loop whichis lifted above the level of the remainder of the coil 37. Thisapparatus may be arranged in such a manner that the tape-gripping jaws4d and 40a are moved step-wise to the right or left, as may be desired,to position the individual loops of the coil 37 successively beneath theneedle or hook 35, thereby enabling a plurality of loops to be raisedand cut in succession to provide a gap of a desired length in thefastener. The apparatus for actuating these mechanisms may be similar tothat shown in Fig. 6, or it may be fully automatic.

An apparatus for removing sections of coil from a meshed fastenerincluding two meshed coils is illustrated in Fig. 10. This apparatus isconstructed and arranged to cut two interlocking coils at a desiredpoint and remove the freed sections of the coils from the tapes to whichthey are connected. Preparatory to gapping the fastener, the fastenermust be freed by cutting the tape and coil thereon into individualfasteners of predetermined length. The fastener 59 shown in Pig. l0includes two stringers She and 5% having coils 51a and 52a thereon inmeshing relation. The fastener is of a predetermined length and isseparated from a continuous fastener assembly, such as that produced inaccordance with the disclosure of the Wahl patent referred to above. Thefastener Sll is positioned on a plate or table 53 which has a hold-downand guide plate 54 adjustably mounted thereon by means of screw and slotconnections 55, 56.

The holddown plate has an under-cut edge 57 for engaging loosely overthe tape of one section 58a of the fastener. Adjacent the end of thehold-down plate 54 is a foot 59 carried on a bell crank lever to whichis mounted on a pivot pin 61 carried by a pair of angle irons 62, alsomounted on the table 53. A stop block 64 is pro ided to limit theinsertion of the stringer under the hold-down plate 54. With thisarrangement, the foot 59 can be brought down to grip and hold the endsof the 4 meshed coils without engaging the tapes or head cords on thestringer.

The end portions of the meshed coils Slla, 52a can be disconnected fromthe other portions of the coils by means of a punch 66 which can bemoved downwardly into a die opening 67 in the plate 53 to cleanly punchout one or more loops of the meshed coils, thereby cutting each coil intwo. When the fastener 50 is pulled to the left, the sections of thecoils engaged by the foot 59 will be retained and will be stripped fromthe tapes leaving the desired gap at the right-hand ends of the tapes.The fastener may then be reversed and its opposite end gapped in asimilar manner.

Figs. 11 and 12 disclose another type of apparatus by means of which acontinuous unsevered, long length of fastener can be gapped prior tocutting it into shorter fasteners of a desired length. This embodimentof the invention includes a platform 70 having a pair of under-cutadjustable guide plates 71 and 72 thereon, which overlie and engage thetapes 73 and 74 of a meshed slide fastener 75. The spacing between theadjacent edges of the guide plates 71 and 72 is such that they engagebehind the beads and expose the coils fully between them. Sections ofthe coils of a desired length can be removed by means of apunch-carrying member 76 mounted on an arm 77 carried by a shaft or rod78 actuated by means of a foot pedal 79 or in any other way to cause itto move up and down relative to the table 70. The member 76 carries apair of punches 80 and 81 which cooperate with die openings in the table70 to enable spaced apart sections of the coils to be punched out.

At the right hand end of the table is mounted a pin 32 which is used toseparate the coil sections of the fastener between the circularapertures punched therein by the punches 80 and 81. The pin 82 has ahead of generally triangular or arrow shaped contour and is mounted on anarrow neck portion 83. The triangular or arrow shaped head of the pinis of larger diameter than the holes formed by the punches 80 and 81 sothat when the fastener 75 is advanced and the right-hand hole is pressedover the pin 82, the fastener is sprung open. Then, if the fastener ispulled to the right, it will disengage the coil sections from each otherup to the left-hand hole punched by the punch 80. Inasmuch as this holeis of larger diameter than the neck 83 of the pin, the coils of thefastener to the left of the hole will not be pushed apart or disengaged.The location of the pin 82, therefore, may be used to determine thelength of the individual fasteners to be made from the continuous tapeand coil. To that end, the pin 82 is supported on a U-shaped bail 85having slots 86 in its opposite legs to enable it to be adjustedlengthwise of the table 70 and thereby varying the spacing between thepin and the punches Sll and 81 and proportionally varying the length ofthe slider to be produced. The bail 85 can be locked in position bymeans of clamping screws 87 which pass through the slots 86 and arethreaded into holes in the table 70.

After opening up the fastener, the severed sections 38 and 89 of thecoils between the punched holes can be removed from the tapes 73 and 74with the apparatus shown in Fig. 12. This apparatus includes a table 913having a jaw 91 thereon and a cooperating movable jaw 92 which can gripthe mid-portion of the coil sections 88 and 89 when the fastener isfolded as illustrated in Fig. 12. The jaw 92 may be pivotally supportedbetween angle brackets 95 and 96 on the table 90 and it may be moveddownwardly by means of a foot pedal 97 connected to the jaw by means ofa link or rod 98. The jaws are normally urged apart by means of a spring100 interposed between them.

The jaws 91 and 92 are arranged to grip tightly but not crush the coilsections 88 and 89 so that they can be disengaged from the tapes bymerely pulling the fastener 75 in the direction of the arrow. To avoidcrushing and breakage of the coil sections by the jaws, a set screw 101may be mounted in the jaw 92 in a position to engage the lower jaw 91and thereby keep the jaw 92 slightly spaced from the jaw 91.

All of the above described devices enable a very accurate cutting andspeedy removal of coil sections, there by greatly facilitating theproduction of fasteners of precise lengths. The devices may be adjustedto produce fasteners of almost any desired length.

it will be apparent from the preceding description that the apparatuscan be modified very substantially and that it can be arranged forautomatic or manual operation with equal facility. Therefore, the formsof the invention described above should be considered as illustrativeand not as limiting the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for gapping slide fasteners having a pair of stringers,each stringer including a coil secured to a piece of material,comprising a support, a cutting member mounted on and movable relativeto said support for severing the coil between its ends, means mounted onsaid support adjacent to said cutting member for gripping a severedsection of said coil and pulling it from the piece of material to whichit is secured, and mechanism connected to said cutting member and saidgripping and pulling means for actuating them-in timed relation.

2. The apparatus set forth in claim 1, comprising spaced apart cuttingelements in said cutting member for severing the coil at two spacedpoints, said gripping means engaging and gripping the severed section ofsaid coil between said spaced points.

3. The apparatus set forth in claim 1, in which the means to grip thesevered section is a hook reciprocable relative to said coil to pull thesevered section from said piece of material.

4. The apparatus set forth in claim 1, in which the means to grip thesevered section are a pair of relatively movable gripping jaws, andmeans to move said jaws to open and close them.

5. The apparatus set Iorth in claim 1, comprising means releasablysupporting the fastener with its coils in meshing relation and in whichthe cutting elements are a pair of ptnches reciprocable relative to saidsupporting means to punch out spaced apart portions of both of saidcoils substantially simultaneously.

6. Apparatus for gapping slide fasteners of the type having a pair ofstringers, each including a coil secured to a piece of material,comprising members releasabiy engaging and holding a stringer, grippingmeans movable into engagement with a coil to engage and grip it, meansadjacent to the gripping means and movable rel ative to it to cut saidcoil on opposite sides of said gripping means to release a sectionthereof, and means for moving said gripping means and said membersrelatively to disengage the section of the coil from said piece ofmaterial.

7. The apparatus set forth in claim 6, in which the gripping means is ahook-like needle engageable with said coil.

8. The apparatus set forth in claim 6, in which the cutting means is ablade having aligned, spaced apart cutting edges thereon to engage andcut the coil at spaced apart points.

9. Apparatus for gapping slide fasteners comprising a supporting member,means to guide and position a slide fastener having meshing coilssecured to strips of material on said supporting member, a reciprocablemember movable toward and away from said supporting member and having atleast one punch thereon to sever both coils simultaneously into aplurality of sections.

10. The apparatus set forth in claim 9, comprising a clamp on saidsupporting member for engaging and releasably holding one end of eachcoil to enable said strips to be pulled away from severed sections ofsaid coils.

11. The apparatus set forth in claim 9, in which said reciprocablemember has a pair of spaced apart punches thereon for punching holestransversely of each coil at spaced points, and comprising a spreadingmember on said supporting member engageable in one of said holes toseparate the section of said coils between said holes.

12. The apparatus set forth in claim 11, in which said spreading memberis movable toward and away from said punches to regulate the length ofthe sections of said coils.

No references cited.

